422 
AUSTRALIAN TERMITIDJE, 
knowledge of these insects in working out the life-histories of 
those found in the vicinity of Santa Catherina. White ants have 
been described from Banda Oriental and the Argentine Republic 
on the east to Chili on the west. 
All the West Indian Islands are more or less infested with 
them. Cuba has several species. Hubbard* has described the 
habits of those found in Jamaica, of which the tree nest building 
Eutermes rippertii is the most plentiful; Maynardt has noted them 
on the Bahamas, and Moseleyj on the Virgin Islands, while 
Hagen has catalogued them from St. Domingo and St. Thomas, 
and Marshall§ has studied the habits of Eutermes destructor in 
Antigua. 
Central America is very thickly infested with them, and during 
the construction of the Panama railway line they did an immense 
amount of damage to the rolling stock and wood work of the 
houses. Two officers of the company, Messrs. Dudley and Beau- 
mont, || kept a number in captivity and discovered some interest- 
ing habits of the commonest species. 
The common species in North America is Termes Jlavijies, 
which is distributed nearly all over the United States, with 
several others more local in their habits. ScudderU has recounted 
their ravages in Florida. Buckley** has described two species from 
* H. G. Hubbard. Notes on the Tree Nests of Termites in Jamaica. 
Proc. Boat. Soc. xix. pp. 267-275, 1878. 
t Mavnard. Notes on the White Ants in the Bahamas. Psyche, v. 
pp. 111-113, 1888. 
X H. N. Moseley. Notes by a Naturalist on H.M.S. Challenger, p. 12, 
New Edit. 1894. 
§ T. A. Marshall. On the Habits of some species of Termites in Antigua. 
Proc. Ent. Soc. p. xxxiv. 1878. 
|| P. H. Dudley and J. Beaumont. Observations on the Termites or 
White Ants of the Isthmus of Panama. Trans. New York Acad, of Science, 
Vol. viii. 1889. 
1f S H, Scudder. Ravages of White Ants in Florida. Canadian Ento- 
mologist, xix. p. 217, 1887. 
** S. B. Buckley. Descriptions of two new species of Termites from 
Texas. Philad. Entom. Soc. Proc. 1861-63, pp. 212-215. 
